boo
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From earlier (15c.) boh, coined to create a loud and startling sound. Compare Middle English bus! (“bang!”, interjection), Latin boō (“cry aloud, roar, shout”, verb), Ancient Greek βοάω (boáō, “shout”, verb).
Interjection[edit]
boo
- A loud exclamation intended to scare someone, especially a child. Usually used when one has been hidden from the victim and then suddenly appeared unexpectedly.
- Used ironically in a situation where one had the opportunity to scare someone by speaking suddenly.
- An exclamation used by a member or many members of an audience, as at a stage play or sports game, to indicate derision or disapproval of what has just occurred.
- 1852 July 15, “Dundalk Election”, in The Freeman's Journal[1], volume lxxxv, Dublin, page 3:
- I ask them to record their votes in my favour, and I ask, is there any man who will dare to call me a stranger (hear, hear, and booing)?
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Noun[edit]
boo (plural boos)
- A derisive shout made to indicate disapproval.
- 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC[2]:
- ...Hodgson headed down the tunnel with the boos of fans ringing in his ears after an eighth league defeat of the season...
Translations[edit]
Verb[edit]
boo (third-person singular simple present boos, present participle booing, simple past and past participle booed)
- (intransitive) To shout extended boos derisively.
- When he took the podium, the crowd booed.
- 2004, The New Yorker, 18 Oct 2004
- Nobody booed and nobody clapped
- (transitive) To shout extended boos at, as a form of derision.
- The protesters loudly booed the visiting senator.
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
From beau.
Noun[edit]
boo (plural boos)
- (US, Canada, African-American Vernacular, slang) A close acquaintance or significant other.
Etymology 3[edit]
Noun[edit]
boo (uncountable)
- (slang) Cannabis.
- 1967, George E. Andrews, Simon Vinkenoog, The Book of Grass: An Anthology on Indian Hemp (page 213)
- […] sexually promiscuous girl who smoked boo all day and socialized with junkies when she wasn't busy banging away in bed […]
- 1984, Raphael S. Ezekiel, Voices from the corner: poverty and racism in the inner city (page 56)
- Like I have smoked boo, drunk whiskey, and shot dope, and I was going through all three bags at once.
- 2019, Ron Cook, On Guard in the General's Chorus (page 2)
- Grandpa doesn't want Grandma and their kids and grandkids to know that he had to get penicillin shots all the time, or that he smoked boo (marijuana) on a daily basis, or that he dealt in the black market, or that he had yobos (purchased live-in sex slaves).
- 1967, George E. Andrews, Simon Vinkenoog, The Book of Grass: An Anthology on Indian Hemp (page 213)
Etymology 4[edit]
Likely onomatopoeic.
Verb[edit]
- (now rare, Northern England) To make a sound characteristic of cattle; to moo.
- 1850, “The Missionary Herald”, in The Baptist Magazine[4], volume 42:
- The cow's tether is put about the neck of the individual who has lost the cow, and he must go about booing like a cow till atonement is made.
- 1894, Emily Seytter, “Barnyard Voices”, in Our Animal Friends: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine[5], volume 21:
- In the north of England people very often speak about the "oxen booing" (not lowing)
- 1987, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl[6]:
- I remember being in the Great Nut Walk and hearing Old Nettle 'booing' like a cow outside .
Further reading[edit]
- boo at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams[edit]
Dumbea[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
boo
References[edit]
- Leenhardt, M. (1946) Langues et dialectes de l'Austro-Mèlanèsie. Cited in: "ⁿDuᵐbea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.
- Shintani, T.L.A. & Païta, Y. (1990) Dictionnaire de la langue de Païta, Nouméa: Sociéte d'etudes historiques de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Cited in: "Drubea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun[edit]
boo m (uncountable)
Synonyms[edit]
Latin[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
boō (present infinitive boāre, perfect active boāvī, supine boātum); first conjugation
- (intransitive) I cry aloud, bellow, roar; bray.
- sed in prima remansi voce et identidem boavi
- but I stayed stuck on the first syllable and brayed it repeatedly
- (transitive) I call loudly upon; bellow, cry or roar forth.
Conjugation[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
References[edit]
- boo in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- boo in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Scots[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English buwen, buȝen, bowen, from Old English būgan, from Proto-West Germanic *beugan, from Proto-Germanic *beuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūgʰ- (“to bend”). Cognate with English bow, Dutch buigen, German biegen, Danish bue.
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
boo (third-person singular present booes, present participle booin, past boo'd, past participle boo'd)
Noun[edit]
boo (plural boos)
- a bow (of greeting)
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